A Perfect Circle
Mer De Noms

Honestly, it's when albums like these come out that you truly feel at peace with yourself and the world after listening to them. A Perfect Circle is a rock band led by Maynard Keenan from Tool and guitarist Billy Howerdel. A simply extraordinary rock band. Moving between hysterical rock, sweet melodies, melodic arpeggios, bursts of metal, (few) electronic solutions, and psychedelia, A Perfect Circle follows a sound imprint that perhaps could derive from Tool, not surprisingly the similarities are evident (maybe we could consider Tool almost like a mother band), but they do it with an excellent and independent artistic personality and sensitivity that has nothing to do with the aforementioned band. The same sensitivity that perhaps would be required of those who will listen to the album: this is not a disposable album, not an album to be listened to superficially or from which to extract singles.

"Mer De Noms" is an album that must be listened to carefully to be fully understood and appreciated, you have to let yourself go to listening and abandon your senses for a while. Surrender to the intense and emotional rock of "The Hollow," a perfect opening track for an album like this, or to the soft rhythm of "Magdalena" where they start to highlight the similarities with Tool; to the distortions of "Rose," which keep pace and make it one of the best tracks of the album with its enveloping central solo and the violins in the closing. But you must also surrender to the aggression of Judith, the enveloping arpeggios of "Orestes," the sweetness of the beautiful "3 Libras," or the innovations of "Thinking Of You" and so on until the concluding "Over," which, soft, with a xylophone in the background and few minutes available, closes an album that I can't help but define as wonderful. An enveloping and intense album that I can't help but recommend to those who listen to music in the true sense of the word (with ears and heart). In particular, I believe that Tool fans will love this album.